Armed assailants have stormed a high school in northwestern Nigeria, abducting twenty-five female students in a brazen overnight attack that underscores the persistent security challenges plaguing the region.
Details of the Attack
The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday, 17th November 2025, at a boarding school located in Maga, within Kebbi state's Danko-Wasagu area. According to police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi, the gunmen, armed with sophisticated weapons, attacked at approximately 4 a.m., exchanging fire with school guards before seizing the girls from their dormitories.
Kotarkoshi confirmed that one person was killed and another injured during the assault. However, local resident Abdulkarim Abdullahi Maga, whose daughter and granddaughter were among those taken, contends that the death toll is higher, claiming the attackers killed a teacher and a guard. Police have not yet responded to requests to confirm a second fatality.
Search and Nigeria's Wider Kidnapping Crisis
Authorities have launched a coordinated search and rescue mission. A combined team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in an effort to locate the missing students and apprehend the perpetrators, the police spokesperson stated.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for this abduction. The motivation remains unclear, but the attack fits a grim pattern in northern Nigeria, where amorphous groups of armed bandits frequently carry out kidnappings for ransom. These criminal elements, distinct from militant factions like Boko Haram, exploit the limited security presence to target villages, major roads, and educational institutions.
This tragedy evokes the memory of the 2014 Chibok abduction, where Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls. Since that pivotal event, which ushered in a new era of fear, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped across Nigeria. Armed groups have increasingly turned to abductions as a lucrative means to fund other criminal activities and exert control in the nation's mineral-rich but poorly policed regions.
A Subdued Yet Persistent Threat
While raids on schools had subsided in recent years due to government security measures—including prolonged school closures in hotspots—this incident demonstrates the ongoing vulnerability of students. Just in March 2024, more than 130 schoolchildren were rescued after being held captive for over two weeks in Kaduna state, highlighting that the threat remains ever-present.
Nigeria continues to confront a multidimensional security crisis, with the safety of its schoolchildren hanging in the balance as security forces pursue the latest group of victims taken from their place of learning.
